Marlowe and the Popular Tradition: Innovation in the English Drama Before 1595Rejecting the traditional stereotypes of Marlowe (spy, troublemaker, homosexual, atheist, university wit) this study considers him as a popular dramatist who inherited an audience with certain expectations and shared experiences. It explores his engagement with the traditions of the popular stage in the 1580s and early 1590s and offers a new approach to his major plays in terms of staging and audience response. This account of English drama in these important but largely neglected years challenges the narratives of change in late 16th century. It Discusses Marlowe's plays in relation to some 30 other playtexts, earlier and contemporary, including Shakespeare's early plays. Marlowe emerges not so much as a precursor of Shakespeare but as an innovator and catalyst of change, the playwright who exploited and transformed the traditional materials of popular drama. |
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Page 126
... character's motivation become possible.3 It points not so much to a change in the ' kind ' of character as to a significant shift in audience and reader response : from an attention to ethical concerns to an interest in indi- vidual ...
... character's motivation become possible.3 It points not so much to a change in the ' kind ' of character as to a significant shift in audience and reader response : from an attention to ethical concerns to an interest in indi- vidual ...
Page 145
... character often argue this ; Michael Mooney , for example , suggests a direct line from the Vice to Hamlet through Richard III.28 Despite their theatrical energy , however , the descendants of the Vice develop into complicated characters ...
... character often argue this ; Michael Mooney , for example , suggests a direct line from the Vice to Hamlet through Richard III.28 Despite their theatrical energy , however , the descendants of the Vice develop into complicated characters ...
Page 157
... character within our more general narratives of the Renaissance ? There are two ways of answering this question . The ' debatable ' character could of course join the ' Shakespearean ' as an illustration of cultural change . In its ...
... character within our more general narratives of the Renaissance ? There are two ways of answering this question . The ' debatable ' character could of course join the ' Shakespearean ' as an illustration of cultural change . In its ...
Contents
Approaches and contexts | 14 |
Viewing the sign | 36 |
Lessons of history | 67 |
Copyright | |
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Marlowe and the Popular Tradition: Innovation in the English Drama before 1595 Ruth Lunney No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
action Angels appears attention audience aware Barabas becomes called ceremony challenge character complex Conscience contemporary context continue conventional critical cultural death debatable defined developed direct discussion drama earlier early Edward effect elements Elizabethan emblem emblematic emotional English especially example expectations exploit Faustus figures framing Henry important individual instances interpretation kind King language late later less London Looking Lords Marlowe Marlowe's Marlowe's plays matter means moments morality narrative nature notes offers particular pattern performance perhaps perspectives play's players playhouse plays political popular position possible practice presented Press Prologue provides reference reflect relationship Renaissance response rhetoric Richard scene seen sense Shakespeare shift significant simply sixteenth-century social space spectators speech stage structures studies suggests Tamburlaine theatre theatrical experience Three Ladies tion traditional Tragedy University values Vice visual signs voices